New Yorkers Agree: NY Ticketing Law Protects Consumers and Should be Renewed

Poll finds overwhelming support for the renewal of New York's ticketing law; New York consumers want ticket transferability to be preserved

On Thursday, April 22nd the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, and the Committee on Commerce, Economic Development, and Small Business held a hearing examining the market for live event tickets in New York. The hearing was to “examine potentially unfair and deceptive practices occurring in New York State’s primary and secondary ticket marketplaces for live events in order to identify any legislative and policy reforms that would help ensure sales are fair, equitable, transparent, and accessible for consumers and other stakeholders.”

Why it matters: The laws in New York that govern ticket sales are pro-consumer and some of the best in the nation. Your rights to freely transfer or give away your unused tickets as you wish are protected. Witnesses from the National Consumers League, Net Choice, Sports Fan Coalition, and others testified about their support for this important protection. Also, per the NY law, venues cannot deny you access to an event simply because you purchased your ticket from a seller or source other than the box office. You have the right to shop around for tickets and New York and other states fortunately protect this right. Now, New York State elected officials are considering if and how New York’s laws might be updated before the law is renewed.

New Yorkers support ticket transferability and want the current NY ticket law renewed! At Protect Ticket Rights, we are tracking this closely and conducted a poll of New Yorkers to get their opinion on the matter, specifically to gauge support for renewing the current NY law. In an April 16 – 29, 2021 survey of 500 New York adults, consumers overwhelmingly support the renewal of New York’s ticketing law and want ticket transferability to be preserved. You can download a copy of the survey one-pager here. 

Here are the survey findings:

 

• When asked, “If you do not use your tickets to a concert or game, should you have the freedom & choice to do what you want with your tickets, like reselling them or giving them away?” 84% answered “Yes, I paid, and the decision should be mine.”

 

• 7 out of 10 (73%) of New Yorkers say it is unfair for box offices, teams or Ticketmaster to prevent you from buying tickets from marketplaces like StubHub, Seat Geek, and Vivid Seats.

 

• 85% of New Yorkers say that venues should not be able to deny ticketholders’ entry at an event or cancel or invalidate tickets because they were bought from a marketplace like StubHub, Seat Geek, or Vivid Seats.

 

• Based on the current NY law guaranteeing the right to transfer, resell, or give away tickets however a ticketholder chooses, 8 in 10 New Yorkers (84%) support the current law being renewed.

 

• 90% of New Yorkers agree that “it is good that NY law requires sellers to offer a transferable ticket”

 

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